The latest science fiction: January 20

Photo: Portia Webb

By David Langford

7:00AM GMT 21 Jan 2013

Everybody’s writing steampunk. In Ian McDonald’s ripping yarn Planesrunner (Jo Fletcher, £16.99), a youngster with a map of the multiverse pursues his kidnapped father from modern London into a parallel world of coal-fired, brass-bound internet terminals and – of course – duelling airships. Engaging adventure with sequels coming.

John Scalzi’s Redshirts (Gollancz, £14.99) isn’t a Star Trek novel, perish the thought, but explores the plight of expendables routinely killed on Away Team missions while starship officers always survive. Can clever redshirts who realise their fate escape the murderous demands of Narrative? The answer is complexly hilarious.

In The Explorer (Harper Voyager, £12.99) by James Smythe, the space-mission crew is doomed from the outset. Five out of six perish in Chapter One; why and how they really died, the bewildered narrator learns much later. Despite a trad sci-fi gimmick and some shaky science, the mood is psychological horror. Unsettling.

Scott Sigler’s Nocturnal (Hodder, £7.99) is a scarifying police-procedural gorefest set in San Francisco, where super-powered serial killers are mutants with freak DNA. Complications include shared dreams, a vigilante mutant-slayer, a cover-up by top police, and maverick cops who won’t turn a blind eye. Explosive action; not for the weak stomached.